Page 1 of 1

hardware question :)

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:21 pm
by choo-chee
looking to buy a new work station. in the past I went with Intel only but I understand that AMD are better now? someone has some experience using Maxwell on AMD cpu's and can elaborate a bit? I plan to use a new RTX 30XX with it. any well known good value configuration? thanks guys.

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 7:59 pm
by T0M0
Same here. I built my workstations based on Intel CPUs in past (rest in peace dual Xeon WS), but this changed last year when I upgraded to AMD Threadripper 3990X.
If your budget allows you and you mostly stick to good ol' CPU rendering in general, this processor is the ultimate best what you can get for rendering.
Intel currently can't offer anything better in HEDT besides their overpriced Xeons based on ancient 14nm++++...+++ technology.

Definitely check the benchwell page it might help you choose your right CPU, but personally I would stick with AMD in these days.

Sadly, my experience with Maxwell ends with benchwell only, since 2016 CPU engine didn't receive any significant improvement so I stopped using it long time ago.

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:27 am
by Matteo Villa
1) Start considering the actual hardware shortage.

Like T0M0 said, Maxwell Render didn’t improved so much in performance in CPU rendering.

I would focusing over GPU computing for the near future.

But seems to be one of the few Rendering Software easily scaling up with a loot of cores, so you can find valuable CPU for rendering with Maxwell.

2) AMD Threadripper are the best choose if you plan to render mainly with the CPU.

threadripper have some plus over other platform:


- ECC RAM SUPPORT ( Intel don’t support ecc on consumer motherboard)
- PCIE 4
- More pcie lanes for multy GPU setup and M2 storage.


The best CPU for rendering are:

2990WX
3970X
3990X

2990 WX you could use 64 GB ram
3970x work well with 128 GB ram
3990X require at last 128 GB ram, better 256 GB ram.

AMD Threadripper work better with high frequency RAM.

The safe spot is 3200 MHZ.
The best overall frequency is 3600 MHZ.


If you plan GPU computing with Maxwell Render, keep in mind only NVIDIA cards will work.

Maxwell render GPU COMPUTING is based around CUDA Cores.
So AMD GPUs would not work. ( for now ).

Best NVIDIA gpu for rendering:

1080-TI
RTX 2080 / Super
RTX 2080 TI
RTX 3090


Considering the GPU shortage your best price/performance solution would be buying the first option:

————————— OPTION 1 ———————————
4x 1080TI ( gpus ) used ( 1600€ on eBay 4 gpus)
1x 2990WX ( cpu ) new/used (around 1000€ Amazon)
1x Zenith Extreme ( MB ) ( around 600€ Amazon)
1x 1200 watt PSU ( 400/500 € Amazon)
64 GB ram 3600 MHz ( 300/400€ Amazon )


————————— OPTION 2 ———————————

If you want a little more performance and higher
CPU frequency.

3x 2080TI ( gpus ) used ( around 400 for gpu) on Amazon or EBay —-> 1200€ total
1x 3970x ( cpu ) ——> 2000€ ( Amazon )
1x Zenith Extreme II ( MB ) —-> 900€ ( Amazon )
1x 1200 watt PSU ( 400/500 € Amazon)
128 GB ram 3600 MHz ( 600/800€ on Amazon )


————————— OPTION 3 ———————————

Best performance

2x RTX 3090 (Gpus)
( actually good luck find them at a good price.
————-> 2500/2700€ for gpu on Amazon -( New )
————-> 900€ for gpu on Amazon ( used )
1x 3990x ( CPU ) —-> 4500€ ( Amazon )
1x Zenith Extreme II ( MB ) —-> 900€ ( Amazon )
1x 1200 watt PSU ( 400/500 € Amazon)
128 GB ram 3600 MHz ( 600/800€ on Amazon )

————————— ———————————

When Maxwell Render 5.2 will released I will post some benchmark with a dual 3090 configuration.


For any question I’m here. :wink:

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:58 am
by choo-chee
thanks for all replies. I don't plan on using GPU rendering as it can't handle any of my scenes that usually consume about 10-30 Gb of RAM. I also don't have a budget for multi-GPU machine. I'm looking for best priced CPU and I understand AMD threadripper or Ryzen 9, and GPU is mainly for quick refresh of the viewport in Maya . I strictly rely on CPU rendering as for now. If I knew that Maxwell can use the RAM for GPU rendering then a stronger GPU was a factor to consider.

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:45 pm
by Matteo Villa
1080 TI have 11 GB GDDR5X memory.

I use 4 of them for light to medium projects.

Until the scene can be loaded inside each card you wouldn’t have any kind of problem.

4 of them are definitely fast. They changed my life :mrgreen:

If you need a huge memory GPU go for a 3090 RTX
You’ve 24 GB of memory.

Using 2 with NVLINK would give you 48 GB of usable memory.

But I’m waiting the 5.2 release to test them, since now Maxwell don’t support series 3000

Personally never used so much memory on any render scene. My maximum was 20 GB.


If you plan to use only CPU
Your best solution is a 3990x

I can easily create an usable render in 15/20 minute and denoise it with Topaz Lab denoiser
( much better then the one used by Maxwell)

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 5:07 pm
by luis.hijarrubia
I just remember that Maxwell does not support NvLink and does not share memory between cards. All the scene and complete image buffers have to fit on each card.

At least for the moment.

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 5:19 pm
by Matteo Villa
That’s a point to resolve fast.

Other rendering engine use NVLINK to increase slightly even the rendering performance between the GPUs.

But firstly to increase the total memory to load more complex scene.

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 1:21 pm
by choo-chee
prices of the hardware you mentioned are far beyond my budget :(

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 2:04 pm
by Matteo Villa
1) give us a budget limit
2) write down what hardware parts you’ve
( for example PSU, SSD, )

For sure you’ve already keyboard/monitor/mouse :mrgreen:

With a specific budget ( in € or $ ) I’ll write down you a list. :wink:

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:01 pm
by Andreas Hopf
Matteo Villa wrote:
Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:45 pm
I can easily create an usable render in 15/20 minute and denoise it with Topaz Lab denoiser
( much better then the one used by Maxwell)
Best render helper ever for no money at all. This thing is a miracle cure.

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2021 9:11 am
by choo-chee
I'm trying to keep the budget under 2500 euros. I'm in need of 2 new workstations so total for both is 5000... I've lost some clients or payments due to this pandemic situation (they went bankrupt or just stopped many projects to wait and see what's next...). We're looking for stronger CPU machines as HPU rendering for now at least, is out of the equation .... from what I see GPU cards are shown as 400-500$ in Nvidia's site but all of the cards in their shop are "out of stock" of course :( and other onlinie shops charge double and more for the same ?!

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 8:11 pm
by Matteo Villa
Do you’ve some GPU maybe from 1000 or 2000 series? Or you’ve to buy them too?

Re: hardware question :)

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 9:41 am
by choo-chee
Matteo Villa wrote:
Tue Mar 09, 2021 8:11 pm
Do you’ve some GPU maybe from 1000 or 2000 series? Or you’ve to buy them too?
nope.